Shaya's Journey

Kofta Biryani

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 09 Jun 2016 06:00:00 +0000

A special occasion tradition that we like to have once a while even when there is nothing in particular to celebrate. Whilst the recipe is the same whether I cook it with lamb or chicken, this smoke kofta version is my favourite. Smoked anything is a favourite of mine really.

Then there is the kofta. Everyone's family has a delicious biryani recipe. But that doesn't mean I can't start that tradition with my own little family. This recipe is definitely a keeper and one I hope will evolve into an heirloom recipe. It is requested often and I have a feeling it will be one of the first recipes I lovingly hand down to my own children when they head off to greener pastures.

Ingredients (serves 4)
oil, for deep frying
1kg (2lb) onions, finely sliced
3 large potatoes, peeled and diced
3 tbsp sunflower oil
2 cloves
1 small cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 cardamom pods
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2·5cm (1in) piece ginger, grated
250ml (8fl oz) tomato paste
75ml (3fl oz) yoghurt, whipped
1 tbsp brown sugar, plus 1 tsp extra
2 tbsp fresh mint, chopped
4 tbsp fresh coriander, leaves picked and chopped
pickled onions, to serve
raita, to serve
For the koftas
300g (10oz) beef mince
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2·5cm (1in) piece ginger, grated
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
For the rice
350g (12oz) basmati rice, rinsed and soaked
1 cardamom pod
2 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp saffron
20 minutes preparation time and 2 hours cooking time
1. Heat the oil in a large, deep frying pan. Deep-fry the onions, in batches, over a medium heat, until golden and crispy. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper, using a fork to separate any clumps (this will help keep them crispy). Repeat with the remaining onions and set aside, until needed. Using the same oil, deep-fry the potatoes over a medium heat until cooked through and golden. Drain on paper towel and set aside, until needed.
2. Bring a large pan of water to the boil. Meanwhile, make the koftas by mixing the mince, garlic, ginger, chilli powder and 2 tbsp water, until combined. Season well. Roll the mixture into small balls around 2.5cm (1in) in diameter and drop into the boiling water. Cook for 5 minutes, then drain and set aside. For the rice, bring another pan of salted water to the boil and drop in a cardamom pod. Cook the rice following the packet instructions, then drain. Leave for around 20 minutes, until dry.
3. Put the 2 tbsp milk in a microwave-safe bowl. Crush the saffron in a pestle and mortar and add it to the milk. Heat in the microwave for 20 seconds, then pour it over the dry rice; fluff with a fork. Set aside.
4. In a heavy bottomed pan, heat the 3 tbsp sunflower oil over a medium heat and add the cloves, cinnamon stick, turmeric and cardamom pods. When the cardamom pods have puffed up, add the garlic, ginger and tomato paste. Add three quarters of the fried onions to the pan (reserving the rest to garnish), crushing them a little with a spoon, until they melt into the mixture.
5. Add 300ml (½pt) water and cook, partially covered, over a low to medium heat for 20-30 minutes. Add the yogurt and sugar; stir until combined. Add another 300ml (½pt) of water and simmer, covered, over a low heat for 30 minutes more (adding more water, if needed). Add the fried potatoes and koftas for the last 10 minutes of cooking, making sure not to stir it too much otherwise the koftas will break up.
6. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to gas 3, 170°C, fan 150°C. Layer up the kofta mixture and rice in a deep, ovenproof dish. Start with a thin layer of gravy and koftas, followed by the rice, a handful of the reserved crispy onions, mint and coriander. Repeat, until everything has been used up, making sure the top layer is rice. Scatter over the remaining crispy onion, then cover with a lid or foil and smoke it with charcoal before sealing, cook bake for 20 minutes. Serve the biryani with pickled onions and raita.

Pancakes with honey and mascarpone cheese

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 09 Jun 2016 05:20:00 +0000

Our summer has finally come to an end. It's been long and eventful. Filled with lots of travel, family visits, and reunions. And work too amongst all the play. We are celebrating Ramadhan. A few birthdays were dotted along the way. We ate a lot.

We visited the beautiful city of Sydney. One of the most amazing places I've been to. That's when I realised how much I missed raw nature, the countryside, seafood, the mountains and rain. Yes, rain. And fog. And that light! Sydney has amazing light. And beautiful sky. Always a beautiful shade of blue.. When its not rainiing (pun intended). Haa haa

And the best part of the summer holidays- long and leisurely breakfasts. We had eggs every way possible- baked, fried. Ofcourse scrambled ones always made it on the top of the list. They're just the way I like it.

But what we all did agree on and always have is, pancakes. They're usually the Saturday pancake kind. Standard batter but different toppings. Hershey's Chocolate syrup kids, Honey for me, Nutella for everyone. They loved it with peanut butter, cream, banana, walnuts you name it. Oh, and additional sprinkles for the kids.

These are a slight variation though, semolina pancakes. I first had these in dubai at Al-barsha . I was smitten, still am actually.

They smothered theirs in honey butter. I decided to fill mine with honey sweetened instead. We were just leisuring actually so its seemed only appropriate. They went down well, really well actually. Although the kids would have preferred to have their topped with sprinkles.

Pancakes with Honey

Ingredients:

250g (8oz) fine semolina

2 tsp flour

1 tsp instant yeast

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp sugar

480ml (16fl oz) warm milk

500g (16oz) mascarpone cheese

4 tbsp honey, plus extra to serve

butter, for greasing

pistachio nuts, to serve

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine the semolina, flour, yeast, baking powder and sugar. Put the milk in a blender and add the dry ingredients. Whizz until the pancake mixture is combined and no lumps remain. Transfer to a bowl and cover with a tea towel. Leave in a warm, dry place for 45 minutes, until slightly risen and bubbles have formed on the surface.

Meanwhile, whisk the mascarpone with the honey and set aside. When you are ready to cook, whisk the pancake mixture – it should be the consistency of double cream. If it is too thick, add a little water.

Put a large nonstick pan over medium heat and grease with butter. Ladle some batter into the pan, tilting and swirling it around for an even layer. Cook for 1-2 minutes until the bottom is set and many bubbles have formed on top. Using a fish slice, remove the pancake from the pan and set aside on a plate. Repeat with the remaining batter.

To serve, drizzle with a little more honey and scatter over the raisins, almond flakes.

Makes about 40 pancakes.

Next chapter of my life

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 17 May 2014 14:30:00 +0000

Remember me? How are you, dear followers? Drop me a line so it doesn't feel like shouting out into empty space. I've missed blogging, and hope to get back to it, but I see a few of you have left, there are plenty new faces around, and the blogging world is still its fiiiiiine self.

It has taken me much longer to get back to blogging this time around. And I have my reasons for it. Some of them justified and some not so. Also, when I saw that my last post was more than 10 months ago, and that too not much of a post, I seriously considered if I even want to continue at all.

Do I even have what it takes to be a blogger? For heaven's sake, just being regular with the posts? What will happen differently this time that it will make me not want to stop? I decided to come back to it because I realized that my reasons for starting this blog in the first place are still very much the same. I may have changed as a person over the years, but my main intent to kind of 'journal' my daily life, to come back to the blog to see how my thinking has changed over time, to share my experiences with friends and family, to practice my writing, to share all the good things that life has to offer and in return feel grateful for it, these and many more.

My reasons haven't changed. Instead in addition, I connected with some of you and that has been wonderful. So is this a comeback, I wouldn't know!? But this little blog of mine has not reached its end, that's certain. So, can we call it a fresh start? Hmm..Let us just call it 'taking-one-day-at-a-time' and see where it takes us. If you are new here, welcome to this little space of mine. If you are coming back, hats off to you for sticking around for so long! ;)

I’m incredibly busy these days, trying to fit in projects and final semester and catching up on the old and long left passion of mine Graphics Designing and such into a schedule made worse by my Assignments.
I haven’t been blogging very much these days, basically because I have got myself back in sync with my old passion Graphics & Web Designing which I just love doing. Granted, I am still very much enamored by Illustraions and Designs, and I have been reading a lot of what is called "Responsive Designing", the likes of which you don’t find a lot in old web designing aspects.

Other than that: things are changing in life, but I'd like to come back to blogging about books and writing, cookin, recipes, DIY. I'd like to do more of blogging, and more reading.

"Let yourself move to the next chapter in life, when the time comes don't remain on the same page

Easy sugar cookies.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 10:08:00 +0000

I feel like the sugar cookie is something that, for the most part, everyone loves. Some people have different aversions when it comes to things like oatmeal raisin (raisins? ew!) or chocolate chip (some like thick and fluffy, others like thin and "greasy"), but no one can really complain when it comes to good 'ole plain sugar cookies.

I like my sugar cookies thick, fluffy, chewy and soft. I played around with the proportions and ingredients and settled on the recipe below.

I love mine with some almond flavoring, but you could definitely flavor these to your liking. I love the twist that almond extract gives these cookies, but using another extract won't affect the texture of the cookie.

I'm not trying to toot my own horn, but these are the best sugar cookies I've ever had. No lie. I made them pretty small, but I'm sure you could make them larger if you were willing to adjust the baking time.

Enjoy!

Ingredients
Sugar Cookies, makes around 2 dozen
1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter
1 cup powered sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or almond extract
2 1/2 cups flour*
1 teaspoon salt

Cream together the butter and sugar. Now mix in the egg and vanilla extract until just combined. Stir in the flour and salt until dough forms. Form a ball from the dough, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm (or over night).

Lightly flour your counter top and roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thinkness. Use cookie cutters to cut out your shapes. Place cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake at 375°F for 8-10 minutes until the edges begin to brown. Remove from oven and move to a cooling rack.

*To make chocolate sugar cookies simply replace 1/4 cup of the flour with 1/4 cup cocoa instead.

You can also decorate the cookies once you remove them with jam or M&M's for your little ones :-)

XoXo,
Shaya.

Dahl Or Lentil Soup.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 14:32:00 +0000

Lentil soup as it is popularly known here.. Arabs love it. My neighbor whose an Arab loves it, she learn't the recipe from me and makes it often.. Like many of you, I currently don't live where I spent my childhood. Dubai is what I currently call home. My family and friends are all back home..
But still I have managed to make unbreakable bonds and loving relationships in just 3 years...

This is where I have made my home, my family. We moved to this apartment when three years ago when it was just a shell. With time, we have filled it up with furniture, love, memories and a growing family. And wonderful aromas of baking, play kitchen and a little bundle of joy cooing and crawling along....

Learning and sharing new and old treasured recipes is what i like the most... collecting and sharing.

Arabs love this dish very much... it actually originates from India.. Its a famous indian everyday comfort
food... most popularly known as Daal.. which is severd with rice or naan.. whatever an individual preference is..
I love daal too.. this is my version of it;

Dahl or Lentil Soup.

Ingredients:
1 cup yellow lentils (Moong/ Masoor Daal)
2 tbs butter
1 onion, sliced
1 tomato, grated
1 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp chili flakes (optional)
3-4 cups chicken stock (optional) use water instead
juice of 1 lemon
salt and pepper to taste
coriander or parsley to garnish

For Garnish Infusion:
2 to 3 cloves garlic crushed
1/2 tsp cumin,
1/2 tsp mustard seeds...

Directions:

Rinse lentils soak for 15 min. prior to cooking in water . Add onions, tomatoes, cumin powder, chilli flakes, stock or water, salt. Pressure cook for 15 min. or you can cook it in the pot for around half an
hour.. I prefer the pressure cooker it makes the job easier... Once done nicely and lentils are cooked whisk for a smooth consistency or run a blender..

In a seperate small pan add butter, add mustard seeds let crackle, then add cumin seed, add crushed garlic let turn golden and then add this infusion to the daal.. Mix everything well give one boil.. Garnish with coriander or parsley and serve with lemon.

Enjoy.

Shaya.

Orchid Flower: Lets Harvest

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 04:27:00 +0000

Lactation Cookies, or Galactagogues

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 05:30:00 +0000

Lets Harvest

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 11:25:00 +0000

OK.. All this while I had been wondering how to grow tomatoes and herbs in my garden... When one fine day I walked past a beautiful nursery.. There I saw so many vegetable plants growing in water containers... The blue kinda which we use for office dispensers... Yeah!!! How creative people get am truly amazed. So I asked the guy in charge about how, what, when... And everything related to the seed and potting soil I could think of... Picked up so many beautiful seed packets of vegetable and potted plants of orange, sweet lime, guava, chikoo (sapota), strawberries.

Off I went home and prepared my soil, pots, and watered the soil.. Waited till the next day to plant the seeds...and then watered my fruit plants and seeded pots patiently... Every single day... I would go and check whether the seeds have new buds popping out or not... And believe me after 12 full days there the hiding heads emerged from soil... holding there heads higher and higher they went on to grow!!!

So first one in the lot are tomatoes... am very fond of growing this fruit... yes guys its actually a fruit.

And it truly is very forgiving one, if you skip watering once in a while due to a certain hold up.. plus the red juicy fruit of your hard labour... Indeed they wax so fast you wont believe..Check out my Tomato plants and cherry tomato harvest..

And these little fellows they look like grapes... My daughter was so excited when we plucked them... mamma look we've got gapes too... Cherry toamatoes...

A basket full of tomatoes.. they were around 700 gms just from one plant.. Yummy!

After some days of keeping them in the warmest kitchen corner... they started turning red. :

Now next i would like to present my bell peppers and chilli plant...

Well in the next post I will give you the tour of my fruit garden... Hope you guys enjoyed it? Do you guys like growing plants? How and where do you grow? What all do you have in your garden? Any tips and suggestions are most welcome... Do share your stories i would like to read them all.

Enjoy Have a wonderful Day all you people...

XoXo,

Shaya.

Life with a Balance.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 17:54:00 +0000

So, the last few months you may have been wondering what I’ve been up to. I’ve been posting plenty of recipes, but haven’t been talking much about personal things or our family. Truth is, I have been swamped since September with both House hold and a new mama responsibilities.. yeah you got that right we have an addition to our family of 4 which is 5 now, and it’s been challenging to keep up.

My two girls just make me smile. Im blessed! And the little bundle of Joy.. ohh he sure knows how to keep mamma on her heels from this age on... Its been a roller coaster ride for past few months now!!

I’ve done a lot of food blogging in recent months, developing new recipes and posting some goodies from my cookbooks as well. Today, I am not posting ANY food pics – but I hope you’ll still stick around, read, and join my discussion (despite not having any visual food appeal)!

Am a mother since past 8 years now... Being mother of three, People ask me often how do you manage and balance all the kids, hubby, and a seperate time for yourself???

My short reply is often “I’m not sure there is any balance“. We may wax poetic about how us moms can “have it all”, but is that really true? Can we? For me, motherhood and Housework has always been more of a juggling act than a balancing act. With all the demands of family and especially young kids something has to give – eventually a ball is going to drop.

The pressure and stress that must arise from trying to keep on top of chores, errands, your household, kids’ activities, homework, and just simple “time” with children – to talk about daily joys or worries. I can only imagine how trying it must be to keep on top of day-to-day life.

As I said, something’s gotta’ give. For me, it’s two areas (1) social and leisure time and (2) household. I rarely go to movies or concerts or events or dinners or even tea with my girlfriends (they are nodding their heads right now). Hubby and I have little time together as a couple too, partly because we are struggling with babysitting right now, and we don’t have that extended family support which is such a blessing when raising children (even for their connectedness with other loving adults). And Yes.. right now my household is a mess i cant even describe it in words.. where is that OCD mommy hiding herself... i can see u.. but she cant come out coz she's had one too many sleepless nights.. giving her OCDness a spin... Lolz

At times it feels like you are not doing anything particularly well! Anyone relate to that? In my heart of hearts, I know that really I AM doing a good job with my family, and more importantly that I AM a pretty good mom (I have my shit days, and even shittier hours). Yet, I think as women, we are often tough on ourselves, because we hold ourselves to high standards and expectations – rooted in our goals for our family.

How it’s still so busy even with the kids in school, catching up on household chores and also being part of school volunteering, and more. Then, once the kids are out of school, our days truly just begin! With homework and activities, dinner hour, and bath/bedtime and getting ready for the next day – there is so much to do in those after-school hours.

There are many things I know I should do more. I know I should meditate, have more “me” time like spa visits (ahhhh!), get out for girls’ day out, and also get away to social activities more often. Maybe in time. I’m sure I could fit in even 10 minutes of meditation a day, that might be the best place to start.
As for “finding the balance”, that may forever remain elusive … at least until our children are much older and independent – and by that time I will likely miss the noise and chaos of my current days.

How do you feel? Are you a mother working from home or outside the home? How do YOU do it all? Do you feel you have “balance”? Do you feel a lot of pressure from peers and family and society to “get back to work”? Does that upset you? What are your coping strategies?

Please share your thoughts and experiences. I’d really like to hear from you on this, and if you have any links to share – feel free to do so.

XoXo,
Shaya.

My Beautiful Garden!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 12:05:00 +0000

Hi Sweeties, My pretty people who are keeping track of my posts and urging me to post more often... :)
Well this time i thought of doing a post on my garden... which is pending since OMG... 3 years... I have been thinking and just letting it slip my mind... But today I am surely more bent on finishing one part of it...

Am a green thumb!! Yeah, I can spend hours in my garden on any given day!! Having a garden of your own is very blissful and rewarding. How beautiful and therapeutic it is just to sit in your garden and enjoy the calm and coolness of it... I have a pateo garden... as much as my space could permit... and on it i have potted plants in container and DIY pots..
What fun it is!!

Thats a very beautiful colour kinda yellowish and peach mix... This is the 2nd full bloom from this plant..!!.. Its Going to need bigger home now... May be when i have a few hours to myself i might get my hands into it. Then next to it is Hibiscus the flower once fully bloomed.. is a size of a soccer ball can u imagine..that big... the tree is getting taller and taller and i can see their are so many buds right under every leave... I think we need to support the plant with something if these many flowers are going to show up... ;)

alt=" My Beautiful Garden, Roses, Plants, Home Gardening, Container Gardening, Fruits, Growing Veggies in pots, Flowers"

This one is my favourite after Roses... hey its called Rose Jasmine...and when it blooms it smells amazing.. Kind of heavenly fragrance fills my terrace... and when you pass by the wind carries it along.... Vow!!

Ah the true blue pretty flowers!! They look very beautiful and they come in a bunch like a bunch of four.. two buds in this group are yet to bloom... I wonder what they are called... I like blue coloured flowers they are so rare.... If any of u guys know the name for this pretty little one.. please share!!

My kids love to participate in watering...
whenever there's new flower or a fruit.. They would call me screaming on top of their tiny voices... "Mamma look there is a new flower!!" And drag mere along to the terrace until I see it for myself.

Hope you guys Enjoyed my post.. Will add more of my gardens pics in the next post.. Especially the vegetables and Yummy fruits.. yes u heard right!! Fruits in THE container... :)

XoXo...
Shaya.

Mile a Minute Baby Afghan

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 12:13:00 +0000

This amazing pattern makes a very beautiful afghan... here i made a cute baby blanket with Sea green and White with Early grey wool.

Delicious savoury oats.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 04:35:00 +0000

On a cold winter morning... what would you like to eat? For people like me we crave salty breakfast over sweet any day... with a hot cuppa coffee to go with.

My kids usually like their old style the most trusty taste of porridge... Hubby dear is also not that fond of savoury stuff, but i keep trying ways to feed them... and you wont believe how much they loved it... At times it makes me think that am the crazy one.. (rolls eyes).

But what can i say... girl kinda has her own taste buds!!.. hee hee..

So here it is my friends enjoy... and lemme know what you all think about it... :)

Ingredients
Oats 2 cup
Onion 1 large chopped
Salt
Green chilli 1 no.
Oil 2 tbsp
Cumin pwd 1/4 tsp
Coriander pwd 1/4 tsp
Coriander leaves to sprinkle
Garlic 3 big cloves crushed.
water 1 cup or less...

Instructions:

Heat 2 tbsp oil in the pot and onions and saute till light translucent.
Add garlic, green chilli chopped, cumin pwd and coriander pwd, salt.
Saute for 2 min. then add water and then add oats... cook till the oats are done... sprinkle coriander leaves and serve hot. Enjoy!!

Shell Ripple afghan baby blanket.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 14:18:00 +0000

Well.. well what can i say i got so hooked doing this design that i ended up making two of the baby blankets with the same design... This design kinda hooks u up and u crave to make more... My little pumpkin is snuggling in them... Heres the other one and trust me guys its very easy to make...

Lactation Cookies, or Galactagogues, mothers milk makers, milkin cookies.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 13:20:00 +0000

I know what you're probably thinking: lactation cookies?! Really,?

Hey, I'm willing to give anything a try at this point if it might help us, even if it's an old wives' tale I read about on the internet. I've done it before and I'll do it again . It's not like this is going to turn you into a milk cow if you're not in a position in life where you'd like to increase your milk supply. But for those of us looking to promote healthy lactation, why not, right? Even though the recipe calls for some slightly unusual ingredients, these actually taste really good. Like an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie with a slightly nutty extra kick
These are super yummy and help boost your milk supply! The recommended "dose" is 4 cookies per day (good luck limiting yourself to that many). This recipe makes a lot - about 60-70 cookies - so it can be halved if necessary.

I N G R E D I E N T S

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
4 Tablespoons water
2 Tablespoons flaxseed meal (no substitutions)
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups thick cut oats
1 cup chocolate chips
2 Tablespoons Brewer's Yeast (no substitutions)

I N S T R U C T I O N S

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.Mix 2 T of flaxseed meal and water, set aside 3-5 minutes. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs. Stir flaxseed mix into butter mix and add vanilla. Beat until well blended.

Sift together dry ingredients, except oats and choc chips. Add butter mix to dry ingredients. Stir in the oats and then the choc chips. Drop on baking sheet and bake for 8 - 12 minutes

Tandoori chicken, Butter naans, and Mint chutney

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 08:52:00 +0000

Tandoori Chicken and Butter Naan... the chicken pieces turned out to be so soft and juicy after grilling and the naan was so soft and yummy... Its a very simple recipe can make it with the big chicken pieces or whole chicken, i kinda like it more in small pieces so this is my version of it... Lemme know if you guys like it i will post the recipe soon.

Shell Baby Sweater In blue

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 08:41:00 +0000

So While i finished my baby booties and cap project i was still toying with the idea of making something more so finally ended up making a baby sweater, which turned out to be super cute... blue and white they kind of are made for each other colours... i just love the way the sweater turned out super cute... Lemme know what u guys think about it..

Little Crochet Baby booties and Cap in Crocodile Stitch

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 08:04:00 +0000

Well this was a weekend project just thought of brushing my crochet skills, havent touched it in a while and then i found myself completing the cap and cute little baby booties.... Well but the efforts were well worth it.
I enjoyed making it, and blue satin ribbon and buttons enhances it even more.

One powerful yet simple ingredient

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 17:43:00 +0000

One simple ingredient can often make all the difference when you’re cooking. And now that’s more true than ever. The ingredient in this case is black pepper—freshly ground, of course, instead of pre-ground and packed in a tin. Freshly ground peppercorns pop with flavor and fragrance, becoming a true flavor, not just background noise, and you can control the grind, from fine to coarsely cracked.

Which got me thinking about when I was getting into cooking. I remember always being nervous when I came to the bit in a recipe when it said ‘season to taste’. I knew that meant adding salt and pepper. But how could I possibly know how much? For years I’d just add a few grinds of pepper and a pinch of salt and hope for the best. That was until I had a bit of a seasoning revelation.

It was a very long ago... when i was a little girl and use to bug mamma in the kitchen when i learnt this small but very powerful trick from her... I was assisting my dad in kitchen trying out a simple tomato soup (ohhh its was wonderful i can still remember the TASTE)

After tasting, she inquired as to whether we’d seasoned it and got us to taste as well. I thought it was pretty good, but at her insistence we added a more salt and freshly crushed pepper. A second taste and the difference was staggering. With her encouragement we continued to salt and taste. Each time the soup tasted more alive and vibrant, not salty but fresh and good.

It was then that I realised that this is what seasoning is about – tasting and tweaking – or fine tuning to bring out the best in the food. After that, I felt more confident with the whole seasoning thing and began to experiment with my own cooking. I like to think of seasoning as an art that I’m continuing to practice and improve.

Chicken Croissants

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 13:00:00 +0000

An experiment that worked out great!! The buns were soft and delicate, a perfect compliment to the yummy filling in the center! And without all that butter that goes in regular croissants too!!! ;-)

Filling Recipe:

Ingredients:

Quarter kg boneless chicken breast, chopped into small pieces
2 small capsicum, red and green if possible, grated or chopped finely
2 tbsp sweet corn
1 grated carrot
1 small onion, chopped finely
1-2 green chillies, chopped
half tsp garlic paste
1 tsp chopped coriander
salt to taste
half tsp grinded cumin powder
a pinch of tandoori masala (optional)
juice of half a lemon
1 tsp soya sauce
1 tbsp butter

Instructions:

Heat the butter in a non-stick pan, add the onions and stir fry until they're translucent. Do not brown them. Add the chopped capsicum and grated carrot, stir-fry for about 5mins until they start to soften. Add the raw chicken pieces and keep stirring until they start browning. Add the chillis, garlic, salt, cumin powder, tandoori masala and sweet corn. Saute until the chicken pieces become tender and well-done. If the mixture sticks to the pan and the chicken is not yet done, add a tbsp of water and cover until ready. Make sure that the mixture is completely dry. Finally, add the coriander and soya sauce, mix well and switch off. Pour the lemon juice on the mixture, and whilst still hot, use a wooden spoon to smash the small pieces of chicken so that they become shredded. Adjust salt/chilli to your taste.

PS: You can smoke the mixture with a coal and some oil to give it a nice bbq aroma. This mixture should be enough for around 16 croissants.

Dough Recipe:

Recipe for Dough (makes 8 croissants)

Ingredients:

2 level teacups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
half tsp instant yeast
quarter tsp baking powder
3 tbsp softened butter
2 tbsp vegetable oil
warm milk mixed with water about half a cup (although you could need more or less depending on flour/altitude etc)

Method:

Sieve the flour and add the yeast, baking powder, yeast, salt and sugar. Stir it so that it's all well mixed. Add 2 tbsp of butter and 2tbsp veg oil. (Reserve the last tbsp butter for later). Rub into the flour using finger tips until the flour has a crumbly texture. Gradually add the warm milk+water, stirring it in with a wooden spoon at first until the dough starts to hold together, and then continuing to knead together with your hands until the dough has softened. You need this dough slightly sticky, it's a menace to handle but the result is worth the trouble. Just oil your hands slightly to help with the stickiness and keep kneading...adding a little sprinkling of flour when it gets too sticky to handle until the dough is nice and well-kneaded and formed into a ball. Apply a touch of oil all over the ball of dough, place in a container and cover with a damp towel. Place in an airtight cupboard (or even in the oven or micro-wave) and leave it to rise to about double it's original size. (40mins to an hour)

Roll out the dough on a floured surface into a huge circle of about 30cm diameter (use your fingertips to stretch the circle out when you feel you cant roll with the pin any further), then rub half of the reserved tbspn of butter all over this rolled out circle. Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut the circle into quarters, then divide each quarter again to form eighths.

Take the first eighth of the circle, place your mixture of choice on the edge (where the perimeter of the circle used to be). Roll carefully towards the pointed edge (where the center of the circle used to be), tucking the pointy end underneath (you can make a small slit near this pointy end just to give the croissants a nicer appearance, although this is not a must).... Curve down the edges of your rolled up croissant to form the crescent shape.

Place the croissants on a greased tray and cover them again for another half an hour so that the dough can rise again. Switch on the oven on medium high (around 175 degrees) and in the meantime, glaze the croissants with egg yolk to give them a nice colour. Bake for about 12-15 mins depending on your oven's heat.

When ready, remove and place them on a cloth, and take the remainin half tbsp of butter, and gently touch up the buns with it to give them a nice shiny soft finish...and they would smell heavenly too. Cover the buns in the cloth for about 10mins before serving. This gives the butter time to get absorbed fully into the croissants, thereby making them soft and extra delish. Serve warm!!

Butter Chicken

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 12:20:00 +0000

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken cut up into pieces.
2 tomatoes (blended)
2 onions chopped
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
15 cashew nuts (made into a paste using water)
2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp thick cream
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp oil
Cilantro for garnishing

Marinade:
1 tbsp tandoori masala
1/2 tbsp garam masala
2 tbsp lime juice
1/2 tsp cumin powder
5 tbsp yogurt
Salt to taste
Mix all the above ingredients well in a bowl

Method:
1. Marinate the chicken in the marinade for one hour
2. Heat oil in a pan and fry the chicken for 10 minutes. Remove the chicken and keep aside.
3. In the remaining oil, fry the chopped onions till golden, then add the ginger-garlic paste and fry sprinkling some water now and then till oil separates.
4. Add the cashew nut paste, chili powder, tomato paste and cook for 10 minutes.
5. Add the butter, cream and chicken. Mix well and cook until it is done.
6. Garnish with cilantro.
Serve with hot naan or paratha, or garlic bread.

Tasty Yogurt Dumplings Dahi Vadas

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 12:10:00 +0000

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Urad Dal • 5 Green Chillies (chopped) • 4'' Ginger (chopped) • 4 cups Curd • 1 cup Milk • 1/2 tsp Roasted Jeera • 1/4 tsp Red Chilli Powder • Oil for deep-frying • Salt to taste

Instructions:

How to make Dahi Vada:

•	Soak two cups urad dal for about 6 hours.
•	Grind the soaked dal. Add salt, ginger, green chillies and little water to make smooth batter.
•	Beat this batter well, so that there are no lumps.
•	Heat oil in a pan. With the help of the slotted spoon, leave the batter in form of vadas in the oil.
•	Deep fry the vadas and keep them on a blotting paper to remove excess oil.
•	Now dip the vadas in cold salted water to extract their oil for few minutes.
•	Now squeeze out the water from vadas and keep them aside.
•	Add milk with the curd to whip the curd well.
•	Now add roasted jeera, red chilli powder and salt to the curd.
•	Put seasoned curd in a dish. Dip vadas in the curd.
•	Keep it in the freezer for half an hour.
•	Dahi Vada is ready to serve.

Yummy Mutton Dry

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 11:23:00 +0000

I love how tender the mutton meat cooked this way turns out. It literally gets to an almost 'falling off the bone' tenderness, very enjoyable with pita bread or parathas or even baked potatoes.

Here is my recipe:

Ingredients:

500gm mutton/lamb pieces with bone

2 onions, sliced thin

2-3 green chillies

4 tbsp oil

black pepper to taste

salt to taste

2 tbsp yogurt

1 tsp ginger paste

1 tsp garlic paste

pinch of turmeric

chopped coriander

1 tsp cumin+ coriander seed powder

half tsp all spice pwd

juice of half a lemon

grated cheese for decoration.

Instructions:

Boil the mutton / meat with 1 grated tomato and 1 grated onion, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper, half tsp garlic paste and half tsp ginger paste....until almost completely tender. Make sure you use just enough water such that it is not in excess. If a little water remains after boiling, it's ok, drain it from the meat and set it aside to be used later.

In a separate pan, add the oil, followed by the sliced onions. Fry until golden, then add the garlic and ginger paste. Stir-fry for a minute, then add the boiled mutton pieces and fry them in the oil. Add the green chillies, yoghurt, the cumin, turmeric, chilli powder and black pepper. Keep the heat on low and keep stirring everything together until the yogurt is no longer visible. Now add the extra water if you want it to have a bit of gravy/moisture (you can add just a bit of regular water if none remained after boiling the meat). Let this simmer for a few minutes until the masala is thick, then squeeze the lemon and sprinkle the garam masala and chopped coriander and sprinkle the grated cheese over it. Taste and adjust salt and pepper. Cover and keep on low heat for about 5 minutes then switch off and serve.

You can garnish with sliced onions and chopped coriander or mint. You can even garnish with veggies or french fries.

Home Remedies for Cold, Cough.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 10 May 2011 10:58:00 +0000

Adults as well as the Kids often go down with cold and cough... to make matters worse it spreads throughout the household....
What i have personally found effective is that when there is a cold bacteria running in the household, the thing best to do is cut some red onions in halves and place it in different rooms... Drink plenty of water fluids, stock up on your vitamin C like fresh orange juice, chicken soup with lots of garlic....
Then there are couple of home made concoctions i try...

1) Goot http://shayasjourney.blogspot.com/2011/05/goot-natural-remedy-for-colds-flu.html

2) Red Onions And Honey Cough Syrup:
1 medium-large Red onion
1 cup honey (or sugar if you don’t have honey, though honey is best)

Peel and chop the onion, and place the slices in a small bowl or glass jar. As you fill the jar, layer the onion with the honey or sugar, topping off with honey. Cover with a lid or plastic wrap, and allow to sit on counter overnight. Juices from the onion and honey will mix and form a pleasant syrup; strain the onion pieces out. Take 1 tsp syrup every 4 hours, or as needed.
Chewing of plain onion for adults also gives a lot of releif from cold and runny nose... Ofcourse dont kiss your loved ones after eating them though LOL

3) Carom seeds OR Ajwain : Roast a palm full of Carom seeds and sea salt on the griddle, when its nicely hot and you can actually smell the aroma of this on the other end of your kitchen... put carefully the entire seeds in a large handkerchief, or large mulin cloth ... tie it nicely so that it doesnt spill from the sack....
Now just let the kids inhale the aroma coming out of the sack... as well as also try to gently apply on there chest... like pressing the sack gently on the chest, back, their forehead... but beaware its "hot" so first check it on the back of your hand and then see if its bearable then apply for kids... better to wait a couple of seconds rather than burning thier skins.... its highly effective when applies warm. What carom seeds actually do is they produce aroma which clears the bacteria and congestion in the respiratory tract as well as when applied warm on the chest and back it dries the phlegm(mucus or bulgum) in the lungs and chest congesting due to the cold or cough its highly effective on infants and childrens.

4) Cold Potion:-Boil some carom seeds + ginger grated + 3 - 4 black pepper corns + 20- 25 leaves Holy Basil leaves 3 inch peice of aloe vera cut in half the gel layer exposed + and carom plant leaves 6 -8
Take around 250 ml of water and boil this syrup till reduced to say half a cup... if required add more water while boiling.... then strain the mixture through muslin cloth nicely squeezing the pulp, now for kids you can add few drops of honey to a tbsp full of this concoction and give them 4 times a day... For elders they can eat the pulp also as it is very soothing for the throat and they can drink half a cup of this potion 4 times a day with honey.
This way in kids the cold will get runny and get out of the system in a day or two..

5) Vicks Vapourub: Its my personal fav. apply on the their feets, chest, back, throat, even on the pillow while sleeping. the relief is instant... also you can give them steam with little vicks in the water.

6) Garlic : A well-known immune system strengthener, garlic shines as an antibacterial and antiviral herb for fighting colds, coughs and the flu. One of the best ways to take advantage of garlic's healing properties is by drinking fresh garlic tea. Sweetened with a little raw honey, it's delicious and helps to heal what ails you. Peel 2 to 3 cloves of fresh garlic and lightly crush them with the side of a wide knife blade. Add them to 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for another 15 minutes. Strain the garlic and allow the tea to cool to mouth temperature. Add raw honey, a tiny pinch of cayenne pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice. Drink as much as desired.

7) Apple Cider Vinegar : The organic one works the best... at the first sign of cold like sneezing or sore throat... Take 1 Tablespoon of ACV(Apple cider vinegar ) + 1 tbspn Honey mix it and drink it... do this 3 - 4 times a day the cold will be nipped in the bud itself.

Hope this helps... will add more of my methods.

GOOT – Natural Remedy for Colds, Flu

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 10 May 2011 10:33:00 +0000

When my kids go down with cold and cough the best i could do is give them the home made cure as much as possible.... couple of things which i have tried and vouch by it, i will be writing detailed blogs on them later but first one which makes on my list is Goot....

GOOT stands for Garlic Oil Ointment and is a herbal remedy consisting of unrefined coconut oil, cold-pressed olive oil and organic garlic.

Garlic has been used for hundreds of years to fight infections caused by colds and flu and has been given the name “King” for its ability to help the body to heal naturally. Raw garlic is chalked full of natural agents that help it function as an antibiotic, antiviral, antifungal, antiseptic and a germicide. It is also an antioxidant and a diet rich in raw garlic fights against harmful free radicals. Garlic is also known to be a diuretic helpful in combating water retention and helpful in flushing toxins out of the body. Garlic has the ability to be effective against Candida, parasites, bacteria and viruses when directly applied. In addition, it treats systemic infections by absorption through the skin into the blood supply and travels throughout the body.
GOOT Recipe
Warm 3 tablespoons of unrefined, virgin Coconut oil in a small pan until melted and warm (don’t heat it too much).
Add 3 tablespoons of extra virgin, cold-pressed olive oil, and mix well.
Remove from heat and add 3 tablespoons of freshly chopped organic garlic. Allow garlic to “rest” for at least 3 minutes after chopping and before blending into oil.
Put mixture in a blender and blend at slow speed, and then at high speed for 2 minutes.
Strain the mixture to remove chunks of garlic that the blender may have missed.

Pour into a wide mouth jar and keep in a refrigerator.

GOOT will turn into a thick soft paste after 1 hour. After two weeks, discard and make a new batch.
How to Use it:
OOT, rubbed into the skin, transfers raw garlic oil directly into the blood stream. Raw garlic is a natural antibiotic that does not carry the bad flora that a Rx antibiotic will put into your intestines.

Apply on the feet of children or infants to fight infections. Rub on chest for chest colds, pneumonia or rub into nostrils for sinus infections. Place on cotton swab for ear infections. Apply directly to sores inside the mouth. Rub on Athlete’s foot or genital area for jock itch. Insert GOOT into affected area for yeast or other related infections. Apply on rashes any place. GOOT kills Candida, parasites, bad bacteria and virus by direct application.

In addition, it treats systemic infections by absorption through the skin into the blood supply and travels throughout the body. After two weeks, make a new batch of GOOT.
Most of this information is from Jacques Dixons, and By: Dr. Loretta Lanphier. Thanks for your information which i stumbled upon goolging cure for my little one cough.

Steak Calzones

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:40:00 +0000

Calzone is a close cousin to pizza; you could even call it wrapped up pizza because the filling is encased in the delicious dough rather than sitting on top. Anyway, these calzones. Super delicious. And here’s the thing about pizza: there’s really no perfect formula to it. So if you’d rather throw these toppings on top of a regular pizza, or into a deep dish, or inside of one gigantic calzone, do it! I won’t mind.

Calzone is basically the same as pizza but with a much prettier appearance. If you want to impress your family, make your regular pizza into a calzone, and watch them "ooh and ahh." And since the filling is inside instead of on top, it's easier to take on the road! Voila!

Dough:

Ingredients

3 level tea-cupsall-purpose flour

three-quarter tspinstant yeast

quarter tsp bakingpowder

1 n half tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

4 tbsp oil plus 1tbsp butter

water+milk (half andhalf)

Method

First, sieve theflour and add the salt, bp, yeast n oil. Heat the water/milk as much as you cantolerate for kneading. The hotter the liquid, the softer the bun. Add the watergradually into the flour whilst kneading until you have a soft but firm dough.Knead the dough, pounding it as much as you can to give the buns a delicatelysoft texture. The more you knead the better the result.

Put the dough into alightly-oiled spacious bowl and turn it over in the bowl once so that thelittle oil covers the dough all over. Cover the bowl with a damp warm towel andlet the dough rise for about half an hour to 45 mins.

I should also mention that these calzones are really good reheated. So if you bake four but only eat two, or if you have leftovers, just pop them in the fridge and reheat them the next day. Deliciousness round two!

For Steak Filling:

Ingredients:

1 kg rump steak 2"cube size pieces,

2 tbsp ginger garlic paste,

1 tsp black pepper powder,

5 - 6 medium onion

2 tbsp margarine or butter,

1 tsp cumin crushed coarsely,

1/4 tsp turmeric powder,

2 tsp black pepper powder,

1 tbsp fresh chopped coriander,

1/2 tsp garlic paste,

1 - 2 not so spicy green chillies,
1/2 tsp all spice pwd,

juice of half lemon,

salt as per taste.

Boil 1kg rump steak(cubed) in a pressure cooker with some salt, garlic, ginger and pepper untilvery tender (about 35mins or a bit more) Try to use just enough water to cookthe meat, the less water used the better, because all the flavour is retainedin the meat itself this way.r

Once cool, drain thenshred the steak using the flat end of a spoon. Set aside. If there was any soupleftover from the boiling, do not discard. We will use it when preparing themixture later.

Peel about 5-6 mediumred onions (white are fine too but I prefer red coz they are sweeter and give anicer overall taste to the dish). Make two deep gashes in it to form quarters,but dont cut it right through. Slice these onions using an onion slicer so youhave small pieces of thinly-sliced onions.

In a deep pan, heatabout 2 tbsp of margarine or butter. Add the sliced onions and saute untilonions are soft (but be careful NOT to brown them. They should just turn into anice translucent colour).

Add crushed cuminpowder, a quarter tsp of turmeric and about 2 tsp black pepper powder. Stir fora bit, then add the shredded steak and about 1 tbsp of freshly choppedcoriander, half tsp garlic paste and 1-2 chopped green chillis. Cook for about10-15mins on low heat, adding a bit of the retained soup whenever you feel themixture is getting a bit too dry (it should be slightly towards the moistside). Adjust salt/pepper to your preference and squeeze half a lemon's juiceinto the mixture. Stir then turn off the heat and sprinkle some garam masala.

Assembling the calzones:

Once risen, make intoabout 4 or 6 balls. Roll out each ball into a circle of about half a cmthickness. Place your mixture on one half of the circle, leaving a margin nearthe circumference.

In a bowl, beat anegg WHITE with a half tsp of water. Drizzle some of this egg white onto themixture that you placed on the dough circle. (This is a tip that helps to holdthe mixture together whilst baking so that when you eat the foldover, you wonthave bits and pieces of meat falling out...so messy!! You can do this formeatpies' mince too!)

Dip your fingers insome water then run them around the circumference of the circle of dough. Thenfold the circle in half, using the empty half to cover the half that has themixture. Press down around the edge using a fork that's been dipped lightly inflour. This helps seal the edge and leaves a pretty design too.

Make a slit in themiddle of the foldover (to help air escape during baking and also makes iteasier to cut the foldover in half when eating!) Repeat for the remaining doughballs...

Place the foldoverson a greased tray and let them rise again for about 20 mins to half an hour.Then lightly brush the tops with egg yolk to give them a nice golden colour.Bake in a pre-heated oven (around 170 degrees) until they're a nice colour.Should take about 12-15 mins or so depending on your oven.

You can apply a bitof butter when they are straight out of the oven (to give them an amazing aromaand to help soften them further). Make sure you cover them in a soft cloth forat least 15mins before serving. This makes them extra soft.